NOT ALL USERS SMOKE IT

Recent letters to the editor have opposed legalization of marijuana because
it is detrimental to health when smoked. First, I would like to say that
marijuana doesn't need to be smoked to be used. It can be added to foods,
and also vapourizers can be used to use marijuana without the smoke side
effects. As for the perceived ill health effects on the body, as the Senate
report has stated, as have countless other studies and reports, it is less
harmful than alcohol or tobacco.

As for the government using expensive and limited police resources to find
marijuana, a native plant to Canada that grows wild in areas, I must say
that wouldn't finding potential terrorists, murderers and rapists be more
efficient?

Do we not have the right to do what we want with our bodies as long as no
one else is harmed? As a taxpayer I am insulted by this futile "war on
drugs." Haven't we learned anything from alcohol Prohibition? Why not just
tax it at realistic levels, and set laws against public use, under 19, etc.
Taxes are what Canadians do best. We could be pioneers in this new revenue
stream and stop smuggling at the same time! As for the argument
legalization will harm children, haven't enough freedoms been taken away
"to protect children" already?

Jim Baldwin

Guelph